In many countries, drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury-related deaths to children ages fourteen and under. More than eighty percent of the drownings occur in residential backyard pools or spas. The speed with which swimming pool submersions and drowning can occur is of special concern. By the time a child's absence is noted, the child may have already drowned.
Pool safety guidelines recommend the use of layers of barrier protection between the child and water to warn and impede. These layers of protection include, for example, alarms on doors and windows leading to the water, pool safety covers, a non-climbable, five-foot fence separating the pool/spa from the residence, and self-closing and self-latching gates and doors leading to the pool/spa with latches above a child's reach.
Regarding self-closing and self-latching gates and doors, the prior art includes latches which are located relatively high on the door or gate, typically at or above fifty inches above the threshold. Unfortunately, a determined child can usually find a chair or other device upon which to climb to operate the latch. This problem is exacerbated by the common use of lever door handles with self-closing and self-latching systems. Opening a lever door handle merely entails pressing down on the handle's flat surface, and pushing, pulling, or sliding open the door. As such, children and mentally impaired adults can readily operate lever door handle. Consequently, such a lever door handle mounted relatively high on the door or gate has proven to be ineffective.
The prior art also teaches of various lock and key arrangements to prevent child access. Such mechanisms, however, require a key for any person to use it. If the key is accessible, the prohibited area is as well, regardless of the user's age or mental acuity. Likewise, if the key is not available, in an emergency situation for example, the area will be inaccessible to all persons not possessing the key.
Yet another solution to the problem is to provide a latch mechanism that requires substantial strength to operate. Unfortunately, the elderly, handicapped, or other adults may not be strong enough to operate such a latch.
Accordingly, what is needed is a self-latching mechanism for a door or window that is difficult to operate by unauthorized individuals, such as, small children and those adults whose mental acuity is in some way diminished so as to warrant restricted access to a particular area, such as to a pool/spa area.